The Band - Greatest Hits
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.06 You Save: $6.92 (58%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.59 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Greatest Hits
Free Music Review: Greatest Hits?! Please....
Hit: 4 Stars
First of all, The Band only had two bonafide hits. One of those (their magnificant live cover of Marvin Gaye's "Don't Do It") isn't even included in this collection! With that out of the way, let's get down to bidness...As far as single-disc collections go, this is not bad. Yes, everybody out there could probably think of a song that should have been included, but, with five strong studio albums, one has to pick and choose when making selections. My personal gripes are the afore-mentioned absence of "Don't Do It" and the presence of the weak cover of "Ain't Go No Home" in the place of the great "Mystery Train" from Moondog Matinee.
This collection works for two groups of people. It's ideal for those who own nothing by The Band and have no idea where to begin. There have been many comments about the heavy leaning of the set towards the first three albums. This is justified in that The Band recorded their strongest material on those three albums. After all, who would want a Dylan compilation with equal numbers of tracks from Blonde on Blonde and Under the Red Sky? All of their "hits" are here in one handy little package.
The second group (I'm included in this category) consists of those people who want a quick road trip CD. This really is a great, concise CD to play when you're on a trip with people who have (gasp!) never really heard The Band.
It's almost guaranteed that most who hear this collection will want to delve deeper into The Band's catalog. After all, every one of their studio albums has something to offer. So, instead of overly criticizing this collection, we should be encouraging people to give this a spin. Who knows where it could lead from there...
Free Music Review: Good Intro For Casual Listeners
Hit: 4 Stars
The good news is that this album puts The Band's most common radio hits together on a single CD, making this a good investment for casual fans. No more do you need to purchase "Music From Big Pink," "The Band," and "Cahoots" separately to get your favorite singles. Whether you want to listen in your spare time or burn your own roots-rock party disc, your Classic Rock Radio hits are in one place.
The bad news is that I can't understand the priorities used in choosing the tracks. Though songs like "The Weight" and "Up On Cripple Creek" are obvious choices, how did nobody think to include "Don't You Do It"? And since The Band was a highly regarded concert act, why are there no live tracks, nothing from "Rock of Ages," "After the Flood," or the "Woodstock" soundtrack album?
And why is there anything at all from "Moondog Matinee" and "Islands"? Though die-hard fans swear by several of these tracks, these albums were acknowledged as reach-arounds to satisfy the studio contract. How about off-loading these in favor of some of The Band's highly regarded live material? And how about shelving decades-old studio rivalries to get a few tracks included from "The Last Waltz"?
The liner notes, like the album itself, have the pious tone of a rock'n'roll hagiography. I recommend this album mainly for casual listeners or as a gift for a friend who you hope will discover the greatness of this act. It will make a good intro and will give them an idea of the general arc of The Band's development. Hopefully they will graduate to the more meaty substance of the original albums.
Free Music Review: The Band Greatest Hits Yes Greatest Sound No
Hit: 4 Stars
Wow! A 24 bit remaster of the Band's Greatest Hits. Sounds great except it don't. Way too much analog tape hiss and fat mids and some lows but not too much on the high end. With processing such as JVC's K2 available it doesn't make any sense for a CD to sound the way this one does. Now having said that, this is a GREAT compilation of the Band's work as far as the hits are concerned. If you are a Band fan then you will have your favorite album(s) which have also been "remastered". This is a great primer and does sound better than earlier CD efforts, it's just that the technology and techniques are out there to have made this sound spectacular. One star deduction for promises not kept, the sound, and a full 5 stars for the content.Free Music Review: The Band's "Greatest Hits" is an Excellent Introduction
Hit: 4 Stars
This greatest hits compilation is an excellent introduction to The Band's music, exhibiting the strengths and weaknesses associated with any such anthology. Omitted are a few of the best live versions of songs, including several of those from The Last Waltz. On the plus side, since the group was never a "Top 40" producer of hits and exemplified the anti-pop bands of their time, this collection is spared the excessive "fluff" which often plagues the greatest-hits compilations of more mainstream, popular bands. If you are a fan of The Band and you wish to introduce a friend to one of the best groups they've never heard, share this CD with them. If they like it, then give them a copy of "The Last Waltz" and they'll be well on their way.Free Music Review: Words cannot do this music justice...
Hit: 4 Stars
I love The Band so much that it's reeeeally tempting to dismiss this collection and tell you to go buy their albums. But I guess that wouldn't be fair. The reality is, for any group or artist, there are going to be some people who only want to own a single disc. This is not definitive, but it's a huge improvement over the previous "Best of". It's longer, it sounds 10 times better, and you get "When I Paint My Masterpiece" and the magnificent "Acadian Driftwood". Yes, arguments can be made about what's NOT here (no "This Wheel's On Fire", nothing from Rock of Ages), but what IS here is of the finest quality, and better that you should buy this than miss out completely on this musical treasure.